


the rough crimson of a rose

by shadowquill17



Series: you are what gleams [1]
Category: In the Flesh (TV)
Genre: M/M, POV Simon, basically just Simon's POV when Kieren goes off during lunch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:53:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27866426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowquill17/pseuds/shadowquill17
Summary: "Kieren keeps talking.You didn’t know him like this, passionate, outraged, and his vehemence pulls your soul to him like a harpoon pulls a fish to its killers; you feel your whole being sing, transform, melt and reform to make a silhouette that will mold itself to his side, that will kiss every single one of his sharpest edges, and will feed forever from his strength and pride."Kieren reaches his breaking point at his parents' table, and Simon listens to him tell his version of the Rising... obviously, Kieren is not done surprising him.
Relationships: Simon Monroe/Kieren Walker
Series: you are what gleams [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2040154
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	the rough crimson of a rose

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a while ago, and I always planned to translate it and post it here someday. Here it is!

Gary is drunk.

He’s drunk, and alcohol does not mix well with his crass ignorance and his pseudo-heroic smugness, as everyone around the table is slowly discovering… except maybe for Jem, whose senses seem dampened by the excess of beer.

You can feel the embarrassed unease of Kieren’s parents, warm and stifling like a plastic tarp around you. They lips purse when Gary gets carried away in his story, miming your brothers and sisters with crude, caricatured gestures, and your teeth clench. It’s only out of consideration for Kieren and his desire for a normal family lunch that you say nothing, that you don’t jump to clasp Gary’s neck between your hands, like you did when you first met…

But Kieren is ahead of you. 

He starts talking and you find yourself hypnotized by his words, by his mouth that curves around cutting syllables, by the hard intensity of his brown eyes… 

You had felt it in him, of course, the steel of a secret and unbreakable force, the kind of powerful conviction that you didn’t meet often enough in your mission to spread the faith. Every word, every convincing point hit a wall, found themselves stopped by something that you guessed stronger than simple disagreement, but his words, although heavy and true, remained rare, and you didn’t know…

So when he starts to speak passionately at his parents’ dinner table, you’re caught off-guard.

He expresses himself calmly, at the beginning, his speech a stark contrast with Gary’s earlier rude and rambling reminiscing. Kieren’s words are implacable but poetic, and each one of his parents’ hesitant protests quiets down when faced with the flame of his gaze, with this truth that he brings down like a hammer. They don’t quite dare to cut him off, but you still feel the cold bite of their shame, of a violent and disgusted shock, starkly different from the delicate discomfort Gary made them feel. 

Kieren keeps talking.

You didn’t know him like this, passionate, outraged, and his vehemence pulls your soul to him like a harpoon pulls a fish to its killers; you feel your whole being sing, transform, melt and reform to make a silhouette that will mold itself to his side, that will kiss every single one of his sharpest edges, and will feed forever from his strength and pride. 

Your head is completely silent, and his voice reaches you like carried by a chorus of angels, vibrant and absolute. Each word resonates in your chest, and you can almost feel your heart beating. What he says sounds like one of your speeches, with the same faith, the same anger, but you know that it’s not him who’s joining you in what you believe in.

No, this is him finding his own truth, the truth, and you’re the one who’s sucked in, pulled into the vortex of him, and the unconditional beauty of who he is.

Of course he is the First Risen. Of course it had to be him, because the First Risen had to be fierce and beautiful, terrible and furious, and Kieren is all that and more…

He burns high and bright next to you, a white fire of righteous, almost divine indignation, and you know you are lost.

Not for the first time, and certainly not for the last, you fall.

Further into the overwhelming, incomprehensible light of Kieren Walker.

**Author's Note:**

> This series will have two other parts. I should be able to post them soon.


End file.
